Indians top Twins 10-4 for fifth straight
The Cleveland Indians won their fifth straight game since the end of the All-star break, beating the Minnesota Twins 10-4. Cleveland lit the Twins up with 20 hits, a season-high for the Indians, led by eighth-hole hitter Trevor Crowe. Crowe knocked in two runs while going 4-5, a career best. The win improved Cleveland to 39-54 on the year, leaving them 12.5 back from the Chicago White Sox in the basement of the AL Central. The loss was much more costly for the Twins, who dropped to 49-44 on the season, leaving them two and a half games behind Chicago after Chicago's Monday win against Seattle.
This is the first time in team history the Indians have won their first five games after the All-star break.
"You do the right thing, and you're going to end up winning ballgames," Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. "What's impressive is the two teams that we're playing."
Crowe echoed his manager's excitement but did not forget the task at hand.
"It feels good to win five in a row, especially against two teams in the division," Crowe said. "But these guys are a good team. They're going to come back ready to play."
Crowe started the scoring in the top of the second inning with an RBI double to center that brought designated hitter Travis Hafner home. Jason Donald then brought Jhonny Peralta home on a ground out to go up 2-0. Minnesota didn't score until the bottom of the fourth, but it was not an earned run. Indians' catcher Carlos Santana had a passed ball with the bases loaded, which allowed Jason Kubel to score from third.
Santana made up for the mistake when he led off the top of the fifth with a double that would begin a big inning for the Indians. After a single moved Santana up to third, Peralta hit a sacrifice to left which sent Santana home. With two outs now, Cleveland hit five consecutive singles, the last four all bringing home a run each. The Twins needed three different pitchers to get through the fifth inning, as the Indians batted around and ended the inning with Santana grounding out.
The Twins scored twice in the bottom of the sixth off a solo shot by Jim Thome to lead off the inning, followed by an RBI double by Orlando Hudson, but it was too little too late. A late RBI single by Delmon Young in the bottom of the ninth was all the Twins could muster to combat a lead that had grown to seven.
Twins pitching disappointing as of late
In their last 10 games, the Twins have gone 4-6 and have let up six or more runs seven times. After last night's game, Minnesota optioned Alex Burnett to Triple-A Rochester after he faced just two batters and allowed one run in the fifth inning. The Twins used five relievers in Monday's loss, and even lost closer Jon Rauch for possibly the rest of the season after he was hit in the ankle with a ball.
Scott Baker, who got the loss in Monday's game and is 7-9 on the season with a 5.15 ERA, pitched for the first time in 11 days due to elbow tendinitis. He claims that wasn't the reason for six earned runs he allowed.
"I'm thinking about it, but in no way shape or form is there anything keeping me from making my pitches," he said.
Aaron Laffey fighting arm fatigue
This is the fourth time in five starts that Laffey (2-3) failed to make it through six innings and wasn't able to control his pitches as much as he should have, but he still allowed no earned runs.
"Sometimes it just feels like I'm throwing a pitch with a parachute attached to it," Laffey said. "Sometimes that's good because it throws guys timing off, but when I try to ramp it up it's just not there right now."
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